592 W. Thalbitzer 



With regard to the Ammassalikers' skin-caps some of them are 

 provided with skin peaks sewn on and richly embroidered (figs. 315 

 d — e), these have probably come into existence in comparatively 

 late times in imitation of the European caps, either by a few spec- 

 imens reaching over to the east coast or by the first women visiting 

 the east coast seeing them there. Of special interest is the type in 

 the two figures 315 b and c, made of thin cotton cloth stretched 

 round a wooden hoop, a modernized shape of that seen uppermost in 

 fig. 314 made from the skin of newborn seals. These forms (b — g) are 

 probably due to the early influence of the 200 year-old colonisation 

 of the west coast by Europeans; the foreign head-gear has first been 

 imitated in their own material of skin and ornamented with em- 

 broidery according to the Ammassalik custom of ornamenting their 

 eye-shades. The Ammassalik hunters were fond of wearing these 

 large caps when they introduced themselves to the arriving Europ- 

 eans (see fig. 8). 



Eye-shades and peaks {irjijeekitån, inneekitän, p. 31). — Within 

 the culture of the Greenlanders the richly ornamented eye-shades of 

 the Ammassalikers have a special position. None of the older authors 

 mention them, neither from West Greenland nor from East Green- 

 land. G. Holm on the other hand found them in great numbers in 

 the large fjords of the district of Ammassalik. It would be rash 

 to believe, however, that they were first invented here, even 

 though their shape is peculiar to this locality. Some very 

 damaged fragments found in graves in northern West Greenland 

 (now in Pfaff"'s collection in Stockholm Riksmuseum) prove, that 

 similar eye-shades have in ancient times been used also on the 

 other side of the large island and the fact that this object has once 

 been commoner among the Eskimo far away becomes more and 

 more clear, when we direct our attention to Alaska where we find 

 it represented by similarly ornamented hunting helmets and visors. 

 As in East Greenland these helmets and visors serve for protecting 

 the hunter's eyes from the glare of the sun when hunting at sea 

 or from the reflection from the snow and ice. 



At Ammassalik we find two forms of eye-shades, a larger carved 

 from a block of wood and in shape like a rounded box cut in two 

 by a curved section with the inner surface towards the forehead 

 (figs. 316 — 319) and a smaller also of wood shaped like a peak with 

 a slight bend in it. The skin-loop (coonaqitaa) passing round the 

 back of the head holding the eye-shade or peak fast on the fore- 

 head is made so that it just fits round the head. Its ends are made 

 fast in the upper part of the peak or shade a little inside the con- 

 cave edge against the forehead. Both are painted red with blood 



